Schizophrenic stabbed grandmother to death 'after hearing voice of angel'

Andrea Petrie

The family of a blind grandmother who was fatally stabbed by a young woman suffering from schizophrenia has called for a major overhaul of the mental health system to prevent any more deaths.

Antoinette Davison was walking her pet dogs in Bairnsdale about 10.30am on November 27 last year when she was stabbed four times by a mentally disturbed Amber Cooper.

Cooper was today sentenced to 25 years in a psychiatric hospital over the 65-year-old’s death.

Victoria’s Supreme Court heard that Cooper, 24, was following the instruction of an angel at the time, because the voice told her he would stop touching her genitals if she killed someone.

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Cooper pleaded not guilty to Mrs Davison’s murder today on the grounds of mental impairment, with the prosecution and defence both agreeing that she did not know her conduct was wrong.

Justice Paul Coghlan heard that Cooper went shopping on Bairnsdale’s main street with her defacto partner about 9am on the day of the attack and asked a shop assistant at a gift shop for a sharp knife.

She ran her finger along the blade of a knife she was shown and told the assistant it was not sharp enough.

After some discussion, however, she paid $47.95 for the knife and declined an offer to gift-wrap it.

Prosecutor Peter Kidd told the court she returned home in a taxi about an hour later.

Around this time, Mrs Davison — a widow and retired teacher who had only 10 per cent vision and could see only light and shade — was taking her two dogs on their daily walk when she was attacked in Murphy Street.

She suffered two wounds to the neck and one each to the chest and left hand, the latter being consistent with a defensive wound.

Mr Kidd said Mrs Davison screamed, which alerted a neighbour to the attack, who immediately called 000. Other people also rushed to Mrs Davison’s side, including a retired nurse who tried to help her, but she died at the scene. Witnesses saw Cooper leaving the scene.

The court heard Cooper’s mother visited her house around lunchtime when the accused received a call from her boss at a local service station where she worked casual shifts asking why she had not shown up that day.

She told her employer she thought she could turn up when she wanted to. She changed her clothes and went to work but left two hours later, complaining she felt sick.

Police searched Cooper’s house three days later and found clothing and shoes, stained with blood matching Mrs Davison’s DNA.

The court heard there was "no known connection" between Cooper and Mrs Davison.

A knife with blood on it and packaging was also found in a rubbish bin. Cooper’s fingerprints were found on the knife handle. The gift-shop receipt was located in Cooper’s purse but she could provide no explanation as to who it belonged to.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Nina Zimmerman, from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, testified that Cooper had a "major mental disorder" which included auditory, visual and tactile hallucinations and delusional beliefs.

The court heard she had been admitted to psychiatric hospital several times as a voluntary and involuntary patient since 2002 due to paranoia and hearing voices and believing that people could hear her thoughts.

Dr Zimmerman said Cooper believed the voices of angels were raping her and she subsequently hit her genitals. She also asked others, including her mother, for blood.

Cooper had held a knife to her mother’s throat on one occasion and threw knives at her at other times and although she had trialled several forms of medication to treat her illness, nothing had worked.

She was still receiving fortnightly injections of anti-psychotic medication — the last of which was the day prior to Mrs Davison’s attack.

Dr Zimmerman said Cooper’s schizophrenia had been diagnosed three years earlier but she had suffered symptoms for a long time beforehand.

Her mother and sister were in court along with a large group of Mrs Davison’s family and friends.

Justice Coghlan read multiple victim impact statements from the children and grandchildren.

He told the family while he had never experienced what they were going through, he certainly had compassion for them.

"Would I regard it as being devastating? Of course I would," he told them.

"Would I regard it as totally devastating? Of course I would. Do I regret what’s happened? I do so in the most profound way from a father, a grandfather and a brother."

Justice Coghlan said he was satisfied that Cooper was "floridly psychotic" and "unable to reason with a moderate degree of sense and composure about whether the behaviour as perceived by reasonable people was wrong".

He ordered her to spend the next 25 years in a psychiatric hospital, adding: "Your prognosis is such that you will require ongoing treatment for a long period of time and your detention in the Thomas Embling Hospital will be necessary".

Cooper will need court permission to be released if her mental state improves.

Justice Coghlan described Mrs Davison as "a person who was a giver and she had spent her life doing what she could to assist other people".

"She was devoted to her family and her family to her," he said.

"She will be most missed in particular by her grandchildren. That is the stark reality of what has happened in this case; a good, loving, worthwhile member of the community is now dead."

Outside court, Chris Blackham-Davison said he blamed the system for his mother’s death.

"Given the extensive psychiatric history of Ms Cooper, we hope and expect that she will receive the treatment that she requires," he said.

"While happy with the judicial process, we have concerns however, with the current mental health system and its failings that has consequently enables this to happen.

"We believe that the system need to be looked into and a major ... overhaul initiated to prevent this type of incident under these circumstances happening again."